Bad Medicine
by goth-huntress
Summary: Huntress faces Harley Quinn to stop Joker's crazy girlfriend from poisoning Gotham City's kids with a designer drug.


**Subject - SOLO - Title  
Title – Bad Medicine  
Setting – Birds of Prey Comic  
Author -  
Chapter - One  
Rating – PG-13  
Word Count – 1213**

I let out a deep sigh as I dropped my rain sodden cape into the bottom of my bathtub, and stripped off the rest of my costume. I leaned over the sink and rinsed out my mouth until the water ran clear. I probed into the back of my jaw and felt the last of my molars wiggle a bit, and said a silent prayer that it would firm up by morning if I was careful so that I wouldn't have to see the dentist. That's right, big tough scary Huntress doesn't like going to the dentist. The bruise that the man's fist was going to leave was going to be a good one. I was glad that Canary and Oracle had been able to set me up with some stellar concealer, so that no one at the school would notice that Ms Bertinelli had been slugged in the face while breaking up a drug deal. What would the principal think?

Reaching into the tub, I rang out as much of the excess water as I could. The heavy rain that had pounded the city had soaked through everything, and I was cold to the bone. But I needed to stash things away before I could take a long hot shower before bed. As I headed towards the laundry room, where I could toss my costume in the wash, I looked out onto Gotham through my rain spattered window. The running water made it look like the city itself was melting reminding me of my time in No Man's Land that I'd just a soon forget. Only one good thing came out of that whole experience. Batman was a bit nicer to me than he used to be. Getting nearly killed hadn't been a high point at all. 

I gave Oracle a quick call before stepping into the shower to let her know that I was alright, and that the word on the street was that this was the start of something big. There was a new drug hitting the streets, and we still didn't know where it was coming from. I'd already seen what it had done to one of my students, and wanted to make sure that it didn't happen to anyone else.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I was pressed back against the cold brick wall near the nurse's office. Billy Chatworth was prone on the gurney, blood and spittle dried on his split and bitten lips. I could smell the vomit that coated his sleeve, and hoped that none of it had gotten on me. Yes, I was concerned about him. I was his teacher, but let's be honest I'm not the most caring and lovable person on the planet. You couldnt do what I do at night, and not care. I just don't like to get close to people if I can help it. I also wasn't going to be able to go home for a couple more hours.

"The custodian has your classroom cleaned up, Miss Bertinelli," I turned towards the Principal and let a tear fall down my face. I needed to look vunerable after all here at the day job. "You should probably get back to your students. Please don't tell them about the drugs, Helena."

"You want me to lie to them!" I snapped. God, I hated the head in the sands approach to teaching that the school board insisted on. "I won't. The only way to make sure that no one else ODs on that shit is to tell them the truth."

"Miss Bertinelli," his fingers bit into my arms, and I fought the urge to rip his head off. "Keep your mouth shut about this. You've got connections that got you this job, but they won't keep it for you if you piss me off." 

Pasting the fearful downtrodden mask on, I just nodded and shuffled off down the hall to my classroom, eventhough my guts were churning. How dare he lay a hand on me! Next time I wouldn't keep from kicking his ass I ducked into the teacher's lounge, and placed a call to Oracle. "I think I want to kill my boss...I know...You did a lot to get me this job...I just don't like his attitude...I'll be in tonight...see ya."  
"Puddin!" Harley careened through the narrow twisted hallway of the Joker's current lair with a tray covered in bright orange mac and cheese, some lightly burnt rolled tacos, and a vase of wilted daisies with one petal left on each for - He Loves Me. "Dinner's ready Puddin!"

With a disgusted snarl, the Joker threw the next to the last of his darts wide, and missed the twisting body of one of Gotham's finest. "Look what you made me do! You stupid cow!" He narrowed his hooded eyes at her, and thought about finding out how she'd look with the fluid from her bright fevered blue eyes running down her face. "You ruined my game. I was going for a bullseye."

"I'm sorry baby," she squealed as she placed her hard cooked meal on a Three Stooges TV tray. "Let Harley make it all better. You can watch me play pin the tail on the oinker instead." Grabbing the rest of the long darts out of the man's body, she dipped the 6" long needles into a slender vial of Crazy J, the designer drug she'd help create. Her black lipped grin widened as she watched the liquid shimmer green and purple in the light of the glowing neon flamingos that flew in a blinding flock over the garishly painted walls. "Now, sit back Puddin. I'll give you a real show."

I had a hard time settling down for my after school nap. I wasn't sure if I was more agitated about the death of one of my students or because the principal was such a dick. Billy Chatworth had died on his way to Gotham General. I didn't need to wait for an autopsy to know that it was because of Crazy J the new flavor in town that everyone was trying. Why couldn't kids just channel their issues towards violence and constructive stuff like I did? I had such a hard time being sympathetic when they were strung out because their parents were getting a separation. I'd have killed to have that be all that was wrong with the Bertinellis.

I stiffled a yawn that made my bruised jaw hurt as I dropped onto the balcony of the Clocktower. Oracle was bent over one of her computers, the blue light making her look even more pale than she was. "You know, Babs," I folded my arms across my chest. "You really should get out more. You're starting to look like a cave fish."

"Thanks so much, Helena," she cocked her head at me, her glasses slipping down her nose. "I've been doing research on the flow of Crazy J. It seems to be hitting teenagers the most. So far hardly any adult have tried it."

"One of my kids died because of it today," I could taste the bitterness raw in the back of my throat. "I'll hit the rooftops. See if I can beat the answers out of someone or other."


End file.
